Our story,
our difference
Since 1985, for more than four decades, Magic Travels has crafted exceptional journeys across the Middle East, the Caucasus and Europe. With Gaïa, we now offer the same quiet excellence on the timeless current of the Nile.
A family story,
a shared vision
Born in the silence of the Arabian desert, our family house was raised on a single conviction: that true luxury, in such places, is not built of marble but of restraint — of light, of fabric, of the right person at the right moment.
When we turned, at last, to Egypt, we wished to return to a vessel worthy of the Nile’s own dignity — a wooden dahabiya in the tradition of the nineteenth century, reimagined for the modern traveller. Three years of building, a hundred Egyptian artisans, and a single, unwavering brief: let the river speak.
Gaïa began sailing the Nile in September 2024 — a young vessel carrying an old soul, still fresh from the hands that built her, already settled into the slow rhythm of the river.
“Gaïa is the result. A boat for those who travel slowly, who notice.”
Quiet excellence,
written in the wood
Sixteen adults across eight cabins and suites. A wooden hull built to nineteenth-century plans by the artisans of Esna. A devoted crew, almost all sons of the Nile valley. The smallest details, held with care.
The people
who carry Gaïa
Behind every detail, a small circle of devoted hands. Very quickly, the crew becomes a family — part of the unique, unforgettable and deeply human experience of the journey, and one of the most beautiful encounters Gaïa offers her guests.
The wider circle — the chefs, butlers, hosts and deckhands whose quiet attention shapes every hour aboard.